Potentially unusual T60 at great price

[Mike Pickwick]

Hey, I saw a machine on that other site whose name we do not speak. It shows a type model of 2007-5bu. When I looked it up on the incredible German site which gives specs per type model, they say that this a a 1400X1050 sxga machine using x1300 graphics. Is this possible? I sure would appreciate some guidance, because wouldn't this mean that it would have to have an IPS screen?
Any thoughts appreciated
Mike

[ajkula66]

That's not an unusual machine at all. Pretty much a bottom-of-the-barrel 15" SXGA+ version of T60.

With that said, yes, it does sport an IPS LCD.

[Mike Pickwick]

Thanks, George for the info. I appreciate the help, as always. And thanks again for the recovery media, I can see this project moving in the right direction, finally.

Mike

[ajkula66]

And thanks again for the recovery media, I can see this project moving in the right direction, finally.

Don't thank me until:

a) You have the actual media in your hands since USPS has been very bad to me lately AND

b) You've actually installed the OS and the system is running to your satisfaction...

Good luck.

[MisterB]

My 15" T60 is a 2007-55U. The specs are identical to the 2007-5BU as far as I can see. It has been a nice machine for me. It has been my daily driver at times. The IPS display is nice. Mine is unusual in just one detail. When I got it, I got all the paperwork with it and it was a refurbished Lenovo Thinkpad with a new XP Pro COA Tag. The refurbisher was IBM. It had a recovery partition and when I restored the system, I got a absolute minimalist XP SP3 system with just the necessary drivers installed and none of the usual Thinkvantage applets and other bundled software.

[Mike Pickwick]

Thanks everyone, for the posts. I ordered it today, and should have it in the next week or so. And thanks to MisterB for the heads up.

[ajkula66]

^^^^^^

Hopefully the screen hasn't seen much use since LG panels found in these machines get dim and yellowish very fast. Other than that - and weak hinges - they are very fine laptops for light daily work.

[Norway Pad]

Good machine that works great even today. A T60 X1300 is the daily driver that sits in a dock in my office. I swapped the CPU for a T7200 2.0GHz one, maxed out the RAM to 2 x 2GB (3.8GB usable), and run Win8.1 from a SSD. I don't do much hardware intensive computer work, but with these upgrades, this machine performs most adequate for my daily tasks.

So if you consider upgrading it, like most Thinkpad owners do, the SSD was the definitely the upgrade that gave most bang for the buck. For OS, Win7 32bit might be easier than going to 8.1, as most system software works out of the box.

[dr_st]

Hopefully the screen hasn't seen much use since LG panels found in these machines get dim and yellowish very fast.

They do, but then they kinda stay there, and it does not seem to get much worse than that. Even after quite a few years, the screens stay plenty bright and usable. In comparison to a new screen, the difference will be striking, but during normal work it will not bother you, unless you happen to work in a really bright environment.

weak hinges

The hinges seem to behave a bit like the screens: they get somewhat wobbly within a year or two, but don't get worse. Even after many years, they are still very tight (to the point you may find you still require two hands to open the lid). There is a bit of play when the lid is fully open, but they still hold it up very well. They do not get atrociously wobbly, like the hinges on T61/T400 widescreens, and I have not seen them break or anything remotely close to that.

My experience is based on my personal T42 and T60 15" SXGA+ IPS machines, which are quite similar in both these regards. Obviously, your mileage may vary, and as you have seen and owned and worked on unimaginably more T4x/T6x machines than I did, your experience may be more indicative.

[GACrabill]

A T60 X1300 is the daily driver that sits in a dock in my office. .... maxed out the RAM to 2 x 2GB (3.8GB usable) ...

Are you sure about the "3.8GB usable" ?

All T60 motherboards are supposed to be "max usable = 3.0GB".

[Johan]

A T60 X1300 is the daily driver that sits in a dock in my office. .... maxed out the RAM to 2 x 2 GB (3.8 GB usable) ...

Are you sure about the "3.8 GB usable" ?

All T60 motherboards are supposed to be "max usuable = 3.0 GB".

Gary is right - see T60/T61/p memory limitations -- the definitive answer [pics]

Johan

[Norway Pad]

Well, that's what you get for posting before thinking carefully through what you post: You post wrong information. Don't know where I got 3.8Gb from.

[ajkula66]

Don't know where I got 3.8Gb from.

Judging by your signature line, maybe R61i?

[Norway Pad]

Now that you mention it George, I upgraded a customer's Acer some days ago - which ended up getting 3.8GB usable RAM. We probably have the origin of that odd number right there. My R61i has Nvidia graphics so it can use all the RAM I put in.

[itsagas2]

I have a T60 and I recently upgraded to 4 gb of ram (2 x 2gb sticks) I did have the max of 3 gb, (1 1gb and a 2gb stick) but upgraded it anyways. Windows 7 64 bit as well as Linux Mint 17.2 report only 3 gb is available for use and Windows actually says there is 4 gb installed but only 3 gb is usable for use. However, I'm seeing a different report from a memory monitoring program called AM-Pro System Info I downloaded from Softpedia, a freeware app.

This is the report, a on the fly quick capture report from AM-Pro System Info when I was watching the ram usage.. The ram usage varies depending on what applications I'm running and when I'm starting up programs.

RAM
Type: DDR2
Chip type: SODIMM
Total memory: 4 GB
Memory in use: 3200 MB (78%)
Available memory: 895 MB (22%)
Modules installed: 2
Data bus width: 64 Bits
Use: Unknown

another capture;

RAM
Type: DDR2
Chip type: SODIMM
Total memory: 4 GB
Memory in use: 3123 MB (76%)
Available memory: 972 MB (24%)
Modules installed: 2
Data bus width: 64 Bits
Use: Unknown

then another capture with the laptop sitting idle for a while with less app activity;

RAM
Type: DDR2
Chip type: SODIMM
Total memory: 4 GB
Memory in use: 2816 MB (69%)
Available memory: 1279 MB (31%)
Modules installed: 2
Data bus width: 64 Bits
Use: Unknown

SO, you can clearly see that a T60 laptop can actually be using more then the 3gb limitation supposedly stated for T60 laptops with the "Intel 945GM, 945PM, GM965, or PM965 chipset".

Manufacturer: LENOVO T60
Model: 200742U

Processor
Name: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU T7200 @ 2.00GHz
Current/Maximum speed: 1000 Mhz (50%) / 2000 Mhz (100%)
Number of cores: 2 physical
Manufacturer: GenuineIntel
Type: Intel64 Family 6 Model 15 Stepping 6
Socket: None
Architecture: x64
L2 cache size: 4 MB

Operating system
Name: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium
Version and build: 6.1, 7601
Service pack: Version 1
Type: 64-bit
Virtual memory in use: 2077 MB (33%) / 6139 MB (100%)

[ajkula66]

Welcome to the forum!

SO, as you can clearly see, my T60 laptop can be using more then the 3gb limitation supposedly stated for T60 laptops with the "Intel 945GM, 945PM, GM965, or PM965 chipset".

There's nothing to be clearly seen from reports of freeware application that "knows better" than anything/anyone else.

Show us a Task Manager snapshot with more than 3GB being in use on your system and we'll have something to talk about.

[itsagas2]

ajkula66

Yep, you are right, my T60 with the windows task manager only shows 3 Gig of ram available when I have just 3 Gig installed or 4 Gig of Ram installed.

SO, the question is will a T60 ever use more then the 3 Gig limititation from the Intel 945GM, 945PM, GM965, or PM965 chipset if it is available.

I also read somewhere on the web that having more then 3 Gig installed in the laptop with the Intel 945GM, 945PM, GM965, or PM965 chipset will actually slow the laptop down. Is this also a possiblity?

Glad to see this forum and have a account, thanks for the welcome. I do like my T60. When I upgraded my T60 from a T2400 (32bit) to a T7200 (64bit) CPU this became quite a nice and very noticable speed enhancement for the $5.72 I paid (including shipping) on ebay....very afforadable upgrade. So, for the few upgrades I have put into this laptop I'm quite satified with its overall functionality. However, I'm a linux fan so that does help a whole bunch when it comes down to speed and functionality of this laptop. Windows (even with installing the 64 bit version) is still slow compared to using Linux. So I shy away from using Windows 7 unless I don't have a choice, like whne I''m at work. (Corporate America is a big Windows Fan - I'm not)

Thanks for your support, Dave

[dr_st]

I also read somewhere on the web that having more then 3 Gig installed in the laptop with the Intel 945GM, 945PM, GM965, or PM965 chipset will actually slow the laptop down. Is this also a possiblity?

No, and let's clarify. The limitation is only in the 945 chipsets. The 965 chipsets (T61) can support up to 8GB of RAM.

[itsagas2]

Thank you . However, did you say the answer to the question on if a T60 that the performance is "NOT" compromised if you have more then 3Gig of ram installed with the 945 chipsets chipset? Or was that a No, refering again to the chipset differences.

I get it that the T61 can have more Ram installed and be available then a T60 because of the chipset difference. But my concern is if you have more then the 3 Gig limit installed in a T60 if it will degrade it's performance in anyway. Thank you Again.

[Norway Pad]

I have 2 x 2Gb RAM in both my T60s, and didn't notice any degradation of performance after I installed that. I have actually never heard or read about any reduction in performance caused by installing more RAM than the chipset can use, where did you read that?

[itsagas2]

I may have mis-read this on the net when researching this 3Gig limitation problem with the T60.

I looked for where I had read it but did not find it however I did find this instead below.
A reference to memory matching advantage called - Duel Channel Symmetric -; is when matched pairs of memory is used vs mis-matched memory pairing. http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=47347

Yes - I know, the T60 cannot see 4GB of memory. With 4GB installed, only 3GB is visible regardless of operating system.

However... I spent a few hours benchmarking memory performance with various combinations of 1GB and 2GB memory modules, and with 32-bit Windows XP and 64-bit Vista. With matching memory modules, the T60 memory runs in dual-channel symmetric mode. With mismatching memory, it runs in either single-channel or dual-channel asymmetric, probably the latter. Dual-channel symmetric gives a slight performance increase over the other two modes.

I won't bore you with the tables of performance results, so here it is in a netshell:

1. Memory performance is essentially the same between 32-bit XP and 64-bit Vista

2. My benchmark results show that memory performs about 8% faster in symmetric mode (matching modules) than in asymmetric mode (mismatching modules).

3. For best performance, install two 2GB modules. This allows the 3GB of usable memory to run in symmetric mode.

4. The real-world performance boost of symmetric mode vs asymmetric mode is negligible for most users. It's probably not worth the extra money if you're upgrading memory, unless you happen to get a second 2GB module for free like I did.